Sprinkler guard



Nov. 21, 1961 I c. WOLF 3,009,651

SPRINKLER GUARD Filed May 25, 1960 w. "WWI FG 2 24 CHARLES WQLF uvmvroaATTORNEY United States Patent 3,009,651 SPRINKLER GUARD CharlesWolf,1571 6th St., Trenton, NJ. Filed May 25, 1960, Ser. No. 31,730 1 Claim.(Cl. 239-231) My invention relates to guards or deflect-ing membersadapted to be applied to lawn sprinklers to deflect or limit the fieldof the spray of water issuing from a sprinkler.

It is often desirable to position a lawn sprinkler near a walk, pathwayor building, but the spray of water from the sprinkler then will wetpersons walking along the pathway or will soak the wall of a building.

It has been suggested heretofore that this objection can be overcome byproviding a lawn sprinkler with a deflector in the form of an annularplate which is slotted about the edges to provide segments that can bebent up or down to control the direction or distance in which the wateris sprayed. However, such construction-s have not always beensatisfactory because the deflecting plate and its supports are readilydisplaced and bent out of shape. Thus, if the sprinkler is engaged by alawn mower or by tools used in Working about a garden or even by dogswhich may brush against the sprinkler, the deflecting plate is sodisplaced that it may be engaged by the rotatable elements of thesprinkler and thus interfere with its normal operation or may be tiltedin such a way as to permit undesired spreading of the water. Moreover,the mounting means heretofore used in securing the deflecting plate tothe sprinkler have included members which are clamped onto the sprinklerhead itself and tend to become loosened as the head or its elementsrotate or vibrate in use.

In accordance with my invention, these objections to the guards ordeflecting members of the prior art are overcome and a constructionprovided which is rugged in construction and will not be displaced evenwhen given rough handling or severe usage. Moreover, the manner in whichthe deflecting means is constructed, supported and mounted assures moreeffective shielding of any desired area and reduces undesired deflectionof the water from a sprinkler.

These advantages are preferably attained by providing a guard ordeflecting means in the form of a disc which has deformable segmentsabout the outer periphery thereof but is supported and held againstdisplacement by improved supporting and clamping means which are spacedfrom the rotating elements of the sprinkler but derive a central supporttherefrom.

Accordingly, the principal object of my invention is to provide animproved type of guard or deflecting means for water sprinklers whichare rugged in construction and may be securely mounted and held in placedespite the vibration of the sprinkler or when subjected to impacts orpressure from lawn mowers, tools, dogs and the like.

These and other objects and features of the present invention willappear from the following description thereof wherein reference is madeto the figures of the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of a typical form of sprinkler guardembodying my invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the construction shown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1.

In the preferred form of my invention chosen for purposes ofillustration in the drawing the sprinkler and guard assembly are of thegeneral type shown and de- 3,009,651 Patented Nov. 21, 1961 2 scribed inUS. Patent No. 2,530,779. That is they enibody a water supply pipe '2having a sprinkler head 4 secured thereto and including rotatablesprinkling elements 6.

The guard 8 of my invention is in the form of a disc 10 which is formedabout the edges with sectors 12 which can be bent up or down to thedotted line positions 16 shown so as to extend or restrict the distancefrom the sprinkler the water may be sprayed. The sectors 12 arepreferably formed by cuts rather than slots so that there is noappreciable space between the sectors and they may be twistedtransversely as shown in dotted plate or disc which has a centralopening 18 therein.

The head 4 of the sprinkler shown in the drawing has a boss 20 at theupper end thereof with a pin 22 which projects upward above the boss.When the sprinkler is operating, the head rises to the dotted lineposition of FIG. 1 and the boss 20 on the head projects through theopening 18 in the guard. The opening 1 8 is only slightly larger thanthe boss 20. Therefore, when the head 4 is in its raised position, theguard is prevented from moving sideways with respect to the head,whereas the head can rotate freely. On the other hand, when thesprinkler is not being used and the head 4 is in the lowered positionshown in full lines in FIG. 1, the pin 22 projects through the opening18. In this way, the guard is restricted in its lateral movement at alltimes whether the sprinkler is operating or not so that the guard cannotbe displaced or tilted sideways even when it is struck a severe blow orsubjected to considerable lateral pressure.

The members 24 which support the guard 8 are formed of rounded wire orsimilar material and are flattened on the upper ends at 26 forattachment to the guard 8 by screws or the nuts and bolts 28. Themembers 24 extend outward and upward from a lower clamping means 30 sothat they are spaced a substantial distance from the rotatable elements6 of the sprinkler. Therefore, they will not engage or interfere withthe operation of the rotatable elements even if the guard should bedisplaced or bent severely.

The members 24 extend outward and upward about the outer edges of theguard 8 and have their upper inner ends bent inwardly and downwardly sothat they are attached to the upper surface of the guard plate or disc 8inside the deformable segments 12.

The lower ends 32 of the supporting members 24 extend inwardly to theclamping means 30 which is positioned so as to be clamped onto the watersupply pipe 2 rather than the sprinkler head itself. The clamping meansshown consists of a strap 34 which extends about the flattened portions36 of the ends 32 so as to hold them securely in place on the portion ofthe pipe 2 directly below the head 4 of the sprinkler. The ends of thestrap 3-4 are provided with a threaded sleeve 3-8 and a draw bolt 40which cooperate to permit band 32 to be tightened to secure the assemblyrigidly in place on the pipe 2 independently of the sprinkler head 4.

The construction which I have provided not only serves to support andhold the guard in place so that it will not be bent or loosened whenstruck by a lawn mower or the like, but also affords suflicien-tclearance for rotation of the element-s 6 without danger of interferencetherewith. The rounded form of the supporting members 24 also serves topresent minimum interference or splashing of the water which strikesthem during the sprinkling operation. Furthermore, the elimination ofslots or other undesirable openings between the segments of the guardassures the most effective control of the water being sprayed.

A further important advantage of my invention resides in the fact thatall of the parts thereof are substantially flat so that the guard,supporting members and clamping means with the bolts or screws necessaryfor assembly thereof can be packed in a fiat envelope or package forstorage, sale and distribution. The assembly can thus be made veryeconomically and can be packaged and sold without employing the usual bulky cartons or containers in which such guards have been packagedheretofore.

While the drawing shows and I have described a preferred form of myinvention, the construction is capable of numerous changes in the formand arrangement of the elements, and of course, the guard may be usedwith any preferred type of sprinkler head. In view thereof, it should beunderstood that the particular embodiment of my invention hereindislcosed is intended to be illustrative only and is not intended tolimit the scope of the invention.

I claim:

In combination with a lawn sprinkler having a sprinkler support androtatable elements with a member which is rotatable with said elementsand projects upwardly therefrom substantially in line with the axisabout which said elements rotate, a water deflecting plate positionedabove said rotatable elements and provided with a central openingtherein through which the upwardly projecting member on the sprinklerextends, said opening being slightly larger than said upwardlyprojecting rotatable member so that the upwardly projecting member onthe sprinkler will be normally spaced from the edges of the opening andfreely rotatable therein but will be engageable by the plate to preventsubstantial lateral movement of the water deflecting plate with respectto the sprinkler, and a plurality of supporting members secured to thewater deflecting plate at spaced points beyond the central opening inthe plate and above said rotatable elements and to the sprinkler supportat points below the rotatable elements, said supporting means beingpositioned outside the path of movement of the rotatable elements of thesprinkler and serving to hold said water deflecting plate above therotatable elements of the sprinkler and out of contact with therotatable upwardly projecting member of the sprinkler.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

